syria is teetering, jordan is burning and the future is yet to be written. the question, will there be elections, will islamists win, will it be one man one vote or one man, one vote, one time. with that, we are going to debate the motion, if democracy is going to triumph are victories at the ballot box unavoidable. we will have opening remarks from our panelists. from there, we will have some question and answers from myself and the audience and our panelists will be allowed two minutes at the end to restate their case and potentially persuade you to believe in what they believe. we'll start with reuel. you may begin. >> this is at such an angle, i don't think i can drink. >> i'm confident you will find a way to drink. >> i want to thank everyone for coming and particularly i want to thank my co-panelists here. rob and i have been debating this issue for almost a decade. certainly with bret, i don't think i ever disagreed with him except on this issue and i particularly have to thank my debating colleague, brian katulis from the center of american progress.